Learning Spanish . . .

Hank, Ike, and I on a day trip to Volcan Poás.  It's cold at 8000 feet!

Okay, I know that it's been far too long since I have written anything!  I think that I have been a bit more overwhelmed with language learning this trimester than I was last trimester - or at least, that's my excuse!  (We have had much more homework, presentations, and such.)  Anyway, here I am - ready to blog again!

Many people have been asking me how our language learning is going.  Well, last weekend, our home church (First Pres Augusta) had it's annual missions conference.  During the last night of the conference, they skyped with our team here in Costa Rica and they asked me to share about the challenges of learning Spanish.  So here is what I shared with them:

Last year at this time, I was a first-grade teacher - teaching little 6-year olds how to read and write in English - teaching all about phonics and fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, grammar and sentence structure.  Which is exactly what I am learning now in spanish.  It’s very interesting being on the other side - being the student instead of the teacher.  For one thing, I realize now that all of my little six-year old students were brilliant!  We  have been in language school for 6 months now and I am no where near the level of even my slowest first grade student.  In fact, imagine your favorite 2- or 3-year old and think about “conversations” that you have had with him.  Does he tend to speak in complete sentences? No.  Does he speak with the correct verb tense?  Most of the time, probably not.  Does he have an extended vocabulary?  No.  Does he rattle off 2 or 3 sentences quickly at one time?  Most of the time, probably not.  Well - that’s about how I speak!  Like a 2-and-1/2-year old.

During our orientation here at language school, we were told that learning a new language would be very humbling.  And boy were they right!  In fact, every student at our school would agree that this has been one of the most humbling experiences they have ever had.  But, we have wonderful teachers here who are extremely encouraging.  They remind us time and again, that this is not an overnight process.  Reality is, language school is a foundation and when we arrive in Peru, we will continue learning and putting into practice what we are being taught in language school right now.

Learning Spanish has been exciting, challenging, difficult, overwhelming, humiliating at times, painful, and humbling.  But it’s also deepened my dependence on God.  This is definitely not something that I can do in my own strength.  Being able to communicate the hope of the gospel in spanish will come about only through His power and in His time.